1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network switch and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a network switch and a method of preventing an IP address collision.
2. Description of the Related Art
In response to the development of telecommunication and Internet technologies, the number of products entering the market, which enable a user to be connected to an IP network using a conventional Personal Computer (PC) based host, are increasing.
The expansion and utilization of various architectures of IP networks are causing an increasing occurrence of IP address collisions in nodes.
Accordingly, there is an increasing importance of promptly identifying and resolving IP address collisions.
An IP address collision occurs when two or more nodes have the same IP address on a subnet in the same broadcast domain environment. In the event of an IP address collision, communication is disabled.
The IP address collision can be resolved by finding a node, which caused the IP address collision, and then carrying out proper procedures, so that a node occupying the collision IP address can maintain its functionality.
According to a conventional method for resolving this type of IP address collision, a user or an operator recognizes the IP address collision of the nodes, assigns new IP addresses to the nodes experiencing the IP address collision, and then attempts reconnection.
However, this method is inconvenient for both the user and the manager. To address the inconvenience of the user or the manager, there is provided a system that uses a separate device, which collects and analyzes all Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packets, in order to monitor and resolve IP address collisions.
A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is also used to determine whether or not there is a duplicate IP address when it assigns an IP address to a node that is being newly connected.
According to the method described above, in which the user or the operator of the nodes assigns a new IP address for reconnection after the recognition of an IP address collision, it is very difficult, in practice, to recognize a node which uses a duplicate IP address as a result of the implementation of various and complicated network architecture environments. This difficulty causes a delay in network management procedures. Therefore, network service qualities which are desirable to the user, cannot be provided.
According to the approach described above of using a separate device to collect and analyze all ARP packets, a probe is for each broadcast domain. This approach, however, is expensive in some network environments such as a Virtual LAN (VLAN) where many broadcast domains are present.
Furthermore, the ability to use the DHCP server as described above is limited since it is available for only a specific network environment, which uses dynamic IP address assignment based upon DHCP.